Birds. 5059 



said, "there were no other eggs or young." The adult bird is of a beautiful purple- 

 brown all over, no white appearing anywhere ; the tail is slightly barred with two 

 shades of brown : one of the young is more advanced than the other; the quill-feathers 

 just show in one, and not in the other. As it is rare to find this buzzard's nest, I have 

 sent this little notice. Can any readers of the 'Zoologist' give me any more authen- 

 tic instances of the breeding of the honey buzzard in this country than the following, 

 viz., 1st and 2nd, Cases mentioned by Willughby and Pennant, without giving places 

 or dates. 3rd, In the summer of 1780, in Selborne Hanger, mentioned by White in 

 his 'Natural History of Selborne.' 4th, In the woods of Abergeldie, in Aberdeen- 

 shire, mentioned by Mr. Macgillivray in his work on ' British Birds,' Vol. iii. p. 261. 

 5th, In July, 1838, at Wellgrove Wood, Henley-on-Thames, when two eggs and both 

 old birds were procured (Zool. 437). 6th, In June, 1841, two birds were shot in 

 Waverley Wood, near Stoueleigh Abbey, and the nest was seen : communicated 

 by a game-keeper of Lord Leigh's, who also said that he had previously shot another 

 pair, which he considered had a nest : from a paper of Mr. J. P. Wilmot, (Zool. 

 437). 7th, In August, 1841, two young males were shot from the nest on the estate 

 of J. Atkinson, Esq., near Hexham. And the case I have noted as occurring in 1852 

 at Earldom's Copse, near the New Forest, when the male bird and two young were 

 taken ; now in my possession. — Alfred F. Sealy ; 70, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, 

 February 8, 1856. 



Note on the Hawfinch (Loxia coccothraustes). — In February, 1855, an individual 

 of this species was taken at Guestwick, without injury, in a trap baited with haws, 

 when the snow was some inches deep. It has since that time been kept in captivity: 

 at first it was exceedingly wild, and still remains veiy shy, showing no sign of 

 attachment or recognition for the daily kindness exercised towards it in order to win 

 its affections. It feeds principally upon hemp-seed, but if kept exclusively upon it 

 the fine flesh-colour of the bill is changed to a leaden hue, but which disappears when 

 the diet is varied with the fruit of the honeysuckle, mountain ash, yew, Cotoneaster 

 and the Crataegi, of which the kernels only are appropriated, the pulp being invariably 

 rejected. It refuses berries which have no kernels, such as the Viburnum, and will 

 eat but very sparingly of wheat and canary seed. It is an adult male ; it did not 

 complete its winter dress until the latter end of October; it displays none of that un- 

 easiness characteristic of birds of passage in confinement at the seasons of migration; 

 it utters no song, but occasionally, when all is still and the day bright, it warbles in a 

 very modest key a few consecutive and by no means unpleasant notes. In July a 

 nestling female greenfinch was introduced, in the hope that its society and extreme 

 tameness might comfort and civilize the stranger, but her lord refused in the most 

 uncourteous manner to acknowledge her presence, by considering her person a part of 

 his perch, without, however, any malignant display of ill will. The greenfinch has since 

 arrived at "years of discretion," fully asserts her rights, and, if the rule of the 

 Pritchard family holds good with them, " They nor care have, nor pain, for the wife 

 wears the breeches." If the hand is put near him he retreats, backing himself against 

 the side of the cage, somewhat after the manner of the kestrel, and if taken will often 

 produce a very painful wound with his sharp and powerful mandibles, uttering a harsh 

 grating note, resembling the syllable "twert" repeated in rapid succession with a 

 nasal accentation (perhaps indicative rather of American than French or German ex- 

 traction). I have taken Heliothis marginata and Ptilophora plumigera in this neigh- 

 bourhood. — R. Drane ; Gvesticick, Norfolk, February, 1856. 



